Our story

Our story started in 2014, when I started planning construction for a summer house to my late grandfather’s home.I wanted a summer house where, considering space and stuff, there was everything you could need, and yet not too much. Eventually the summer house became a 34 m2 modern second home to a family of four. I got left with 2,5 meters of room for kitchen cabinets, in which I would have to put everything necessary- from fridge to stove and oven.

At home I went through all the drawers, and took out every tool and object. One by one I went through them and thought, have I used it and if i have, when. I also thought about if it could be replaced with some other tool.

I came to the realization, that most of the hundreds of tools that I had collected over the years, had no purpose whatsoever. The basic tools that I could use for even more challenging dishes covered about 30 different tools out of all of them.

Once I had collected before me everything I deemed necessary, I started to wonder if these tools represented timeless, sturdy, and the best quality. For most of them I figured, there was better out there.

Reasons for kitchen supplies

When I was planning this store, one thing was clear from the beginning. I did not want to make a store that was filled with everything you could possible use while cooking. Hundreds, if not thousands different, more or less practical kitchen tools are invented every year. I don’t want to be involved in making someone’s kitchen a place that’s drowning in odd, useless,disposable gadgets and gizmos.

My idea is the opposite: I want to offer products that I have personally tested and deemed the best for anyone who takes food seriously.

Below are my reasons for every tool that I chose in my kitchen and why I later on picked them for my online store.

Pans

The first task was to recycle every single coated pan. Some of the non-stick coatings had already started to flake off, so this was the natural step. Eventually, I ended up with four different pans that were all iron pans from De Buyer’s Mineral B collection. These pans would basically last forever. At this point I had cut the amount of my pans in half, and I would never have to exchange them.

Knives

From the knife drawer, I sent about a dozen different types of knives into recycling and replaced them with four beaten Japanese knives: the Cook’s knife, the vegetable knife, the bread knife, and the filee knife with a flexible blade.

With these, I naturally purchased the Japanese whetstonesfor sharpening the knives, and the sharpening stick to maintain the sharpness.

Besides the knives, I also got a Julienne peeler, which job a very sharp cook’s knife could also do. Since I prepare a lot of dishes with julienne peels, I purchased the peeler because I figured it would speed up the process. After purchasing the knives, I bought a few different sized Arcos wood fiber chopping boards that brought together the plastic chopping boards easiness, and the hygiene of the wooden boards I used to prefer.

Pots and kettles

The third product group that I attacked was kettles, that we as a family with children had collected a whole drawer full. They faced the same destiny as the other products. For a long time I wondered, what did I even cook with kettles, and came to the realization that it was mostly oatmeal, soups, pasta and vegetables. I also cook sauces in small kasari.

I’m also used to making the chicken and beef broth from scratch, for which I need a really big pot. I decided to keep my old 10 liter pot until it would get out of shape. For another kettle I chose a copper kettle, especially for emulsions and reductions that acquire precision. For the rest of my kettles, I picked out two different sized kettles from De Buyer’s Affinity collection.

Besides the kettles, I purchased one big steel casserole pan, which I could use to brown a big amount of ingredients on the stove or use it as an oven pan. The same pan would fit nicely for table settings, for example at a barbeque.

Since I like slow cooked stews, I found a cast iron pot for myself from the le Creuset collection. The pan is enamelled form the inside, which is reallly important for me since I have had bad experiences with cast iron pans that suck out all the flavor. With an enamelled pan you can cook for example beef and fish back-to-back without the flavors mixing. Since I am a bread enthusiast, I could also use the pan to make some delicious country fry pan breads.

At this point, I realized that my kitchen had all the cornerstones, that I think every kitchen should have.

Small articles

Next and most time consuming process was to go through all the small articles. These are usually the biggest problem in a kitchen. Small articles are cheap, and easy to buy as impulse purchases. The result is drawers full of loud, bad quality circus of plastic and metal.

First, I took out the pyramid grater that took an unreasonable amount of space consider its usefullness, and it scratched a other articles in the drawer, ruining its own blades. I replaced it with a long Kuchenprofi grater with three blades. I immediately found out it was so much better than my old metallic one.

Ladles etc. I found over 20 different kinds in my drawers. I came to a realization that two is enough: small one for gravies and small appetizer soups, a big one for oatmeal and soups. I picked out steel ones because they can withstand heat when you eventually forget the ladle in the kettle. The ladles were from Kuchenprofi and due to their nice design, they fit fancier table settings as well. I also purchased steel tweezers that I can use to easily flip for example vegetables on the pan. Because of their beautiful design they could also be a tool at a table setting. And of course a fishlover needs fishbone pliers, which fasten the process of picking out the bones, and keep the fish neat when you’re not forced to dig out the bones from deep within the fish. Fresh fish’s bones are in tight so picking them out with just your bones isn’t enough.

We had managed to collect quite a collection of spatulas. One good one would be enough. It would have to have a steel handle and a plastic spatula so it won’t damaged the non-stick surface made by fat burning the pan. We found the spatula from the Kuchenprofi collection, as well. On the same time, I threw out all the old melted and bent out of shape baking spatulas, and purchased a sterdy wooden tool that could handle even a larger amount of dough and can be used to stir for example scrambled eggs in a hot kettle.

Next I put my focus on measuring cups, strainers, whisks, and mixing bowls, which are included almost always in cooking. Immediately, I found out I owned four different sized measuring cups for no apparent reason, and decided to throw half of them out. I picked out the measuring cup of one litre. It is a very general measuring cup used in many recipes, and its scale is good for measuring smaller amounts too. All 2,5 dl and smaller measuring cups lost their purpose right away. For my other measuring cup, I picked out the 1 dl, because I could use it to measure for example the quarter of a dl. The 1 l measuring cup isn’t specific enough for that. For a strainer, I chose one that fit the kettles perfectly so it could be used as a general strainer in gravies etc.

When I was checking the mixing bowls, I realized the biggest problem with them was the flat bottom. Mixing and especially preparing foods that need to be whipped up to really get air into them, is fairly unproductive with a flat bottomed bowl. I discovered a perfect half a ball shaped bowl from de Buyer. As an extra toll I received a ring that would keep the bowl up on the table. Since the bowl’s design was shiny and simple it could also be used for example as a salad bowl. Naturally I would also need a proper whisk, which I found from my trusted manufacturer, Kuchenprofi.

Pizzastone

Since baking bread and pizza is almost a weekly hobby of mine, I decided to finally purchase a proper baking stone. It would make the pizza base as crusty a in Italien restaurants and the bread’s crust as crusty on the bottom as on top. kuchenprofi pizzastone turned out great because of the metal rack that came with it. because of it the stone was easy to lift and for example set above the table surface if you want to set it down hot.

Spice mills and morters

Finally I moved onto the spice rack and realized that most of my plastic spice mills were completely unusable and unnecessary. I decided to only purchase the two basic spice mills: one for salt and one for pepper, since they are the basic spices that I nearly always use in cooking. The choice was easy since the Peugeot spice mills and their lifelong quarantee were familiar to me. It was also important to me that the mills looked good since they are always on the table. The Peugeot mills were good due to their timeless design.

With the spice mills, I also ordered a huge granite morter that couldn’t be broken easily. I picked the big ish one so that it would fit two or three bushes of basil for preparing pesto. In the same morter it would be easy to crush other spices as well.

The amount of my kitchen supplies slimmed massively, and I don’t need to be stingy in my cooking. Less is more. Now my tools are strong and efficient, and I know what can be found in my kitchen. Majority of the electrical supplies went to recycling, as well ,when I thought about how I could replace them with all of the tools mentioned before. For example, I don’t need a toaster anymore because I can as well toast a great bread on a carbon steel pan.

Hopefully I can help you to move towards a more enjoyable kitchen and cooking, too.